% Children

If you are a child and trans, congratulations! You know who you are at
such an young age. Many trans people will envy you! Society treats
trans people better and better as time goes by, that means your life
will get better and better. You might have fears about puberty,
especially if it would change your body in ways you do not want. Fear
not. You are not alone. Many trans children have overcome these
issues. And there is a nice webcomic, [Assigned
Male](http://assignedmale.tumblr.com), with the theme of trans
children.


## Avoiding the wrong puberty

**You need** to see a private clinic or self-medicate to avoid the
wrong puberty. You will simply not have enough time to wait for the
national health services in your country until puberty hits. Because
of a lack of funding in most countries these services will make you
wait, or your country might have laws against prescribing puberty
blockers to children. And then you're screwed because you have
breasts. Or a beard. Or a deep voice. Or periods. Therefor research
whether your [country](index.md#country) has child- and trans-friendly
GP's or consider [self-medicating](hrt.md). If you are of puberty age,
and you're trans, it's vital that you start on puberty blockers
immediately.


## PARENTS: this is IMPORTANT!

You need to make sure that your child **DOES NOT** go through their
genetical puberty, the one that their body is programmed to go through.
It makes most trans people depressed, or worse, suicidal, especially as
they get older. If you love your child, you will let them take hormones,
including hormone blockers, as early as physically possible.

National health services are *SLOW* and your child will likely go
through most of their puberty by the time they get blockers. You can
purchase blockers on the internet. Check out our [self-medication HRT
page which shows how to purchase hormone blockers on the
internet](hrt.md). Self medicating might sound daunting, but if you do
not have access to child- and trans-friendly private clinics, which
one is better: having a deeply traumatized child, or do the research
and help them grow as they see themselves.

DO NOT DELAY. **You have a moral responsibility as a parent to ensure
the safety and happiness of your child as they grow up. If you allow
them to go through their genetical puberty, you could very well end up
with a dead child. Transgender people under the age of 25 are *five
times* more likely to commit suicide than their non-transgender peers,
according to official statistics. This is directly related to trauma
brought about by their puberty (if they went through their
self-mutilating genetical puberty), and abuse that they might receive
because of that, especially if they start \*not passing as their
desired gender\* as a result.**

**We are deadly serious about this. No child should ever be forced to
suffer body dysphoria.**


## Starting the process

You will need to [come out](coming-out.md) to your parents, because
you typically need parental permission for puberty blockers. Book an
appointment with your GP, and say that you are transgender and wish to
transition. Whether trans woman, trans man or non-binary, you should
then ask your GP to refer you to a Gender Identity Clinic. In many
countries the law requires the doctor to immediately refer you to a
gender clinic when you request gender transitioning services. You
might find letters by the government explaining this, or simply find
what the law states. Print these out and take them with you as you go
request transition.


## Going about the process

The clinic that you choose will send you some forms to fill in. Fill
them in *and make sure to book the earliest appointment possible*.

Children are not currently given full HRT, in most countries. If
you're a trans woman, you might be able to get antiandrogens (puberty
blockers) which block testosterone; this blocks your genetic puberty
(e.g. they block body/facial hair development, block voice deepening,
etc). For trans men, you might get prescribed antiestrogens which
block breast development, etc.

Teenage trans children are not typically given estrogen until their
peers are well into puberty. Teenage trans men are not typically given
testosterone until they're almost adults. Testosterone is also a
controlled substance in most countries, which make it more difficult
to self-medicate on it.

For non-binary children, we're not sure. You should probably take
puberty blockers to block your natural puberty, and then decide what you
want to do later. Or you might not. It's always different because there
is a lot more variance with non-binary people.

Genital surgery is not typically provided for trans children. They must
first become adults.


## Moral responsibility against child suffering

***We at Transit believe that children should be able to fully
transition. If you're a 12 year old trans woman (12 is when puberty
usually begins in trans women, without puberty blockers), we think that
you should be able to start taking estrogen. If you're a 10 year old
trans man (10 is the usual puberty starting age for trans men, without
hormone blockers), we think you should be able to start testosterone
immediately.***

***If you're a parent of a trans child, and your child has only just
become of puberty age, it is your \*moral duty\* to make sure that they
do \*\*\*NOT\*\*\* start their genetic puberty \*\*\*AT ALL\*\*\*. For
most trans kids, this will result in extreme dysphoria which will, as
their puberty progresses and as they become adults, make them become
severely depressed and even suicidal in many cases. If you love your
child, then you should allow them to go through the puberty of their
real gender, the one that they came out to you as.***

***Parents of trans children: please read our [HRT self-medication
guide](hrt.md) which describes how to purchase hormones on the
internet and how to take them at safe doses. Hormone blockers are not
enough. You need to make sure that your child transitions early,
otherwise they are going to grow up depressed (most trans kids have
gender dysphoria, a type of depression and anxiety resulting from a
mismatch in their body with their internal gender identity, which gets
worse over time). By not letting your child transition, you risk
losing your child. More than half of transgender people under the age
of 25 currently commit suicide because of trauma from their teenage
years, and abuse/discrimination resulting from not passing, if they
were forced to go through their genetic puberty. If you do not let
your child transition, you risk losing your child - permanently.***

For surgery, we have a page about this. See [/surgery/](surgery.md) - for
children, surgery is not available in the UK or most countries, but you
might be able to get surgery for your child privately in another
country. We wish to research this and put information about it on the
website, but we currently have no information about this.


## Sex education booklet for trans youth
[Booklet](http://cdn0.genderedintelligence.co.uk/2012/11/17/17-14-04-GI-sexual-health-booklet.pdf)
